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What Is At Stake on Heroes?

There's a lot wrong with this season of Heroes: Hiro is a misused, bubbling idiot; Claire and HRG continue to have the same arguments; and Mohinder is still alive.

But there's one overriding issue that plagues the series: Absolutely nothing is at stake.

Think about it. What's the big danger this season? What are viewers and/or characters supposed to be afraid of? Samuel isn't the nicest guy in the world, but does his (VERY) slowly-evolving plan seem to be a threat to the world?

Peter is mourning his brother and saving random people; Claire is confused and in college; Hiro is sick and wants to save Mohinder; HRG wants to get inside the carnival; but, simply put: SO WHAT? Why should viewers be invested in any of these storylines, considering the lack of danger to... well, anyone?

It's indefensible that a show about super heroes could fail to actually set up a true battle between good and evil. Samuel is moving a few pieces around, but there's been no movement at all on the other side. Every episode just focuses on a disconnected set of events regarding "good" guys such as Hiro, Ando and Peter.

Would it really be so difficult to go the 24 route and present the world with a clear threat each season? From there, as we've said before, have the characters unite and fight against a common cause.

In a recent interview with Fancast.com, Tim Kring actually responded to the question of why the Heroes don't band together. He nonsensically said:

"Logistically it becomes very hard to get everybody into one place. It’s a nightmare for shooting, the jigsaw puzzle of it all. Most television tries to avoid more than two people in a scene, for just that reason. It takes a third longer to a shoot a scene with three people, so when you get eight people in a scene, you really start to stretch things."

Ummm, Mr. Kring: You must be a smart individual in order to have created a TV show that's lasted for four seasons. But this response makes zero sense. If you were to unite the heroes, X-Men style, that doesn't mean they'd LITERALLY be in the same room all the time.

Do you disagree with our simple assessment above? Is there any sense of urgency at all this season? And, if not, isn't that a depressing state of affairs for a show based around super heroes?

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Terrible season. I kept waiting for it to get suspenseful and it just never did... The best part about this season is that we didn't have to listen to Nikki's whining (or any of her "twins")

Julie•January 26, 2010 06:08

It's time to wrap up the show...I've been watching since the beginning and there comes a time when it needs to end and I think we are seeing that this year.

Derek•January 08, 2010 14:28

The key difference between what they're doing with this season and what was planned for season 2 was that season 2 was going somewhere well before being this far into the season. At that point, we had discovered that Hiro had MADE HIMSELF his own childhood Hiro. We had a villian, and we knew what his plan was. There was going to be the massive virus outbreak, Sylar getting his powers back and actually being his normal serial killing self... Of course, then they rewrote that last episode and plunged the show into despair. But yeah, we're now PAST the half way mark and nothing has happened. But this is still much better than Season 3.

Sez•January 07, 2010 04:20

I can understand and agree with what you're saying B. I'd love Future Hiro (the proper one with the soul patch and too much hair gel, not the crappy S3 one who wore a leather jacket) to make a return but I fear we will get the (threatened) end of season moment where Hiro will meet up with Charlie in Japan (as leaked before this season was aired). As much as I adore Hiro, and Charlie is a sweet character (I kind of prefer Yaeko myself, that for me was 'adult' love not 'first love' which I find a tad cheesy although it's not intolerable) I can't imagine where they could go with it being a happy ending, Jayma mays is busy with 'Glee' for a start. I hope it isn't as sickly as them being reunited and living happily ever after (although I do want him cured).

B•January 07, 2010 03:32

I don't know if anyone agreed with my long imaginative rant a few reviews down...but I was saying that Charlie should die and this would facilitate Hiro's character development into Samurai Hiro. Which would of course take several years to happen ; )

Maj•January 06, 2010 22:03

The only thing that is at stake right now is the wherabouts of Charlie. I am still awaiting on Samuels ulitmate plot. Hope it comes out Now.

Mark I•January 06, 2010 20:01

Very, very disappointed with HEROES this season, especially since I've been watching weekly since season 1. I agree with M.L. House's perceptive comments. The characters behave nonsensically when they're not disappearing for weeks on end. Mourning Nathan was way overdone, and this cello playing woman is still baffling. Suddenly she's a tool of Samuel, who's pathetic. For all we know, he's got Molly advising him where to find people. Hiro is truly ridiculous, and I suppose Mohinder will contrive some unbelievable formula to fix him...yet again. And then there's Sylar...who exemplifies this season - no path, no plot, no plan.

F.D.•January 06, 2010 19:11

They obviously tried something new here by dragging the suspense out to the end of the season. We'll know what we should've been worried about like second to last episode... But this is not a good approach, since if they continue to drag it out there will be like 3 of us watching the finale. Judging from official press releases, Samuel will mess something up in episode 4Ã—16 while trying to impress Vanessa. So yeah I guess heroes will team up to fix it and/or contain him or something. But I agree that at this point it should be clearer whether Samuel really just plans to build a lovely quiet home for his carnival, or if his deranged mind just wants to split the planet apart to terrorize people that have been persecuting his "family". I also don't like the idea that HRG is setting up to kill him just because.... well, why does he want to kill him again? Does he really know how much of a threat he can be? HRG's primatech files probably contained information about him, but we've yet to learn if he knows as much as Mohinder figured.

Maj•January 06, 2010 18:37

Please take Heroes away from Tim Kring..I think he is no longer suited for the position...he got his big Pay out for season 1..why should he care.